17-17 – Councillor Expenses and Facilities Policy – Better Practice Template
| Category: Circular to Councils | Status: Active |
| Circular Details: 17-17 / 27 June 2017 / A548300 | Contact: Council Governance Team / 02 4428 4100 |
| Previous Circular: Nil | Attachments: Councillor Expenses and Facilities Policy Template |
| Who should read this: Councillors / General Managers / Governance Staff | Action required: Information |
| PDF Version: | Council Circular 17-17 – PDF |
What’s new or changing
- A better practice Councillor Expenses and Facilities Policy template (the Policy template) has been developed and is being made available for use by all councils.
What this will mean for your council
- The Policy template is provided as a suggested format for councils.
- The Policy template has been prepared to be consistent with the Local Government Act 1993 (the Act) and Local Government (General) Regulation 2005 (the Regulation) and the Office of Local Government’s (OLG) Guidelines for the payment of expenses and provision of facilities for mayors and councillors in NSW (the Guidelines).
- If there are any inconsistencies, the Act, Regulations and Guidelines take precedence.
Key points
- The Policy template has been designed to be amended to suit local needs and circumstances. It is recognised that the provisions in the Policy template will not all be appropriate for every council.
- Areas where councils will need to incorporate specific direction are highlighted in yellow and indicated in [square brackets]. The note to users and all highlighted sections should be deleted during preparation of the draft policy.
- Councils using the Policy template will need to include maximum expenditure limits for specific expenses and facilities. Councils should tailor these limits to their own context and community expectations. Councils may wish to benchmark against similar councils to determine these limits.
- Under section 252 of the Act, councillor expenses and facilities policies must be adopted within 12 months of the commencement of the new council term.
- Once exhibited and adopted, the policy must be made publicly available on the council website.
- Copies of the policy are no longer required to be provided to OLG.
Where to go for further information
- A Word version of the Policy template is available under ‘Related Downloads’ on the Councillor Expenses and Facilities page in the Directory of Policy Advice for Councils section of OLG’s website www.olg.nsw.gov.au
- For further information, contact OLG’s Council Governance Team on 02 4428 4100 or by email to olg@olg.nsw.gov.au
Tim Hurst
Acting Chief Executive